Puzzler Answer, Encore 4, Shocks

Ray: This is the case of the bad shocks.

Tom: The Puzzler has to do with shock absorbers.

Ray: And I was reminded of this the other day because it actually happened again. A woman came into the shop and she said, "I went to one of those Speedy..."

Tom: Gonzalez.

Ray: Yeah, that's it, "Speedy Gonzalez muffler shops, brakes, alignment, tuneup places. And they told me I needed new shocks. The guy said, "Yeah, I'll show you that you need new shocks. He bounced on my rear bumper and it..."

Tom: Fell off.

Ray: No, "It went boinga, boinga, boinga, up and down, up and down, up and down." And she said, "OK, put them in." So they put the shocks in and she drove away. And as luck would have it they closed up right away. Not for business, just for the day. So she couldn't go back and complain.

Tom: Well, a lot of those places, as you back out, the building disappears.

Ray: They were closing for the night and she was very disappointed. The ride was terrible. Worse then it had been with the old shocks. She felt like she was driving over cobblestone streets. So she went back the next morning. She was there when they showed up with their 7-11 coffee. You know, 7 after 11. And she said, "There's something wrong with these shocks. They are defective." And they checked them out and the guy said, "There's nothing wrong with them." And they did the bounce test. He pushed the bumper down and released it, and it came to a stop. He said, "They are perfect. If your other ones had done this I wouldn't have sold you new shocks." And she insisted that he put new ones on again. And he did that.

Tom: And, of course, it made no difference.

Ray: Right, and otherwise we'd have what?

Tom: No Puzzler.

Ray: Right, and she came to us.

Tom: The court of last resort.

Ray: And she came to us and said, "What is wrong with my car? Those bozos." The question is A) Did they do something to her car or did they not?

Tom: Well, we know they did something to her car. But did they do something causing the problem? Or not? And part II, (the other was part A)...

Ray: Why didn't they? They did nothing wrong.

Tom: So what's up?

Ray: Well, they didn't do anything wrong, actually, except they did overlook one thing. She had way too much air pressure in her tires.

Tom: Hey, haven't we done this one before?

Ray: Shhh, I'm trying to save the planet by recycling.

Tom: She had lots and lots of air in her tires.

Ray: She had like 50 pounds of air in her tires. She didn't notice it with the other shocks because they were so bad that when she did hit bumps, the back end went up and down, up and down, up and down, boinga, boinga, boinga, a la the QE2. And then when they finally put shocks in there that worked correctly and damped those vibrations, when she hit a bump it felt like every little pebble she hit was telegraphing right through to her bones, because in fact it was. And we let some of the air out of her tires, and that was it.